Beach House and Papercuts Tour: A Match Made in Heaven

By Liz Louche on

It's a story as old as time. We see it repeated over and over again -- in our own lives, on the silver screen, and in the paperback romance your lonely aunt Pam is reading. But this time it doesn't involve either Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks, so you know it's bound to be good!

Imagine: One band meets another band -- they talk a little at first, they ask their friends about one another, they daydream about the possibilities. On the surface, they seem to have a lot of things in common: lo-fi sound, dreamy qualities, and prominent organ melodies. There certainly seems to be a spark of chemistry! One band is looking for a drummer. But will the other band have the right drummer for them?

In the case of Beach House and Papercuts, yes. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, the duo behind Baltimore-based Beach House (TMT Interview), are setting forth on a lengthy U.S. tour this spring, and they've asked Papercuts' Jason Quever to join them on drums and in life (at least for the duration of this magical, musical excursion.) Papercuts are touring in support of recent album Can't Go Back (TMT Review) on Gnomonsong Records, and Quever and friends will accompany Beach House on all dates. Beach House will be promoting their upcoming release on Carpark Records, Devotion, due on February 26.

Insound Acquired by Warner’s ADA

By Mr P on 01-07-2008

Late last week, Billboard reported that Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) has acquired online retailer Insound.com. The move was made by ADA to expand its digital sales by using Insound as a "back-end" for its own clients to create their own online stores. Insound will continue to operate under co-founder Matt Wishnow, according to reports, but the longterm stakes and implications are at this point left to speculation.

Originally created in the early ‘90s by Warner Music Group and Sub Pop, ADA distributes music for independent labels such as Merge, Barsuk, and Secretly Canadian, as well as for some major-owned labels like Atlantic and Nonesuch. ADA also famously distributes music for the label-less Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. It is considered in the industry as an "indie" distribution company, but since it is owned by major music group WMG -- much in the same way as EMI's Caroline Distribution, Sony BMG's RED, and Universal's Fontana -- the hazy, theoretical divide between independent and major is most evidently revealed here.

White Williams Live. Yes! Something to Jot Down in My New 2008 “Day-Runner”!

By David Nadelle on 01-07-2008

I was procrastinating the other day during one of my normally strict bi-hourly spank sessions when I clicked upon an interview with the late, great film director Robert Altman. When the maverick was interviewed by Geoff Andrew in January 2001 for the British Film Institute, the conversation turned to a period of Altman's life spent as a dog tattooist.

G.A.: “Is it true that in the forties you used to tattoo dogs?”

R.A.: “Absolutely.”

G.A.: “Can you explain?”

R.A.: “Well, in the forties, I tattooed dogs.”

Alright. Well, after explaining his entry into a canine identification initiative, Altman elaborated:

R.A.: “So, I became the tattooist. We would take the dog, and inside the groin, by the right-hind leg, we would shave and put on the antiseptic fluid and then with the tattooing machine I would do letters, and I got pretty good at it, and we'd put the number of that dog that was registered. We thought we were off to be millionaires. It turned out that I just got a few dog bites."

White Williams isn't the first person you think of when talking Altman, but the two have more in common than you might think. Both bring to mind an incomparable independent spirit. Or was it that they both represent the "pendant" in independent? Oh man, I had some thing in mind for this, I swear! Okay, okay, maybe I just wanted to ease myself into 2008 by writing something simple (read: re-printing someone else’s amusing biographical anecdote/interview). Regardless, Williams will be sashaying his idiosyncratic self all over the U.S. and parts of Canada soon. Williams' latest release is the well-traveled Smoke, out wherever Tigerbeat6 is stocked.

Wait, I know what I was trying to say all along -- one minute you could be seeing yourself as the next Richie Rich, the next you're getting bit by a growling bitch! Nah, that's not it...

White Williams = the dog's bollocks

01.12.08 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East Upstairs %
01.13.08 - New Haven, CT - BAR Nightclub %
01.14.08 - Providence, RI - The Living Room %
01.15.08 - Montréal, Quebec - Sala Rossa %
01.16.08 - Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern %
01.17.08 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick +
01.18.08 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop +
01.19.08 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern
01.20.08 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Club %
01.23.07 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Media Club ^
01.24.08 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey ^
01.25.08 - Portland, OR - Holocene ^
01.26.08 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord *
01.27.08 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo
01.29.08 - San Diego, CA - Casbah ^
01.31.08 - Austin, TX - Emos Jr. #
02.01.08 - Denton, TX - Hailey's #
02.02.08 - Houston, TX - Walters on Washington #
02.04.08 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder (FSU) #
02.05.08 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn (MJQ Concourse) #
02.07.08 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 $
02.08.08 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar $
02.09.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas $

% Ecstatic Sunshine

+ Ecstatic Sunshine & Ghostman and Sandman

^ HEALTH

* Eats Tapes

# Rings (First Nation)

$ Ecstatic Sunshine & Rings (First Nation)

The Shins’ Keyboardist Arrested for Allegedly Assaulting America’s Next Top Model Girlfriend

By Mr P on 01-07-2008

The Shins' keyboardist Martin Crandall was arrested last Friday for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, America's Next Top Model contestant Elyse Sewell, in a Sacramento, CA hotel. Sewell was also arrested, after Crandall urged the police to "press charges of domestic violence" on her due to a bite mark on his arm. Sewell has since been released, claiming the bite marks were inflicted due to self-defense. Crandall has been charged with domestic assault, a felony, and remains on $25,000 bail.

Most of the information was leaked due to a LiveJournal post by Sewell. Yesterday, however, Sewell took down the post heeding the advice of "commenters" and said "Livejournal readers, I thank you. This blog is something I do for fun, but yesterday your comments really did help me through a shitty situation. I was so grateful for the love."

Here's Sewell's original post:

1.) On the drive home (home?) from Albuquerque to Portland, my ex-boyfriend got shitfaced and roughed me up in a Sacramento hotel. I escaped from the room through a blitzkrieg of violence and talked to hotel security, who called the fuzz.
2.) Because he had a bite mark, inflicted in self-defense, on his arm, Marty told the police to PRESS CHARGES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST ME.
3.) I spent the night in jail. Dig the hilarous monetary contents of my wallet as described by the pig who booked me:


4.) Jailors. America's Next Top Model fans, all. As the warden took pics of my bloody knuckles for evidence (!!!! evidence!), he quipped, "So there goes that hand modeling job, huh? What's Tyra going to say about this?" And here is how I was summoned from the holding cell for a strip-search, complete with a thorough plumbing of the boodissy: "Hey, Supermodel! Git over here!"
4.) A bail bondsman (!!! I have a bail bondsman!) got me out of the hoosegow this morning and took me to a hotel room where I now await my court date. Martin Lesley Crandall is still incarcerated. You can follow his saga by searching for his name on sacsheriff.com (click on "inmate information").

So I'm stuck in Sac-town, alone and lonely, for 4-5 days until court. Court! OMFG.

On the flip side, I'm single and um, ready to mingle. Blind date, anyone?

ETA: Breakfast in jail is served at 4:00am. Meat-stuffed croissant. And, you should already know what a "kite" is if you've been studying your 50 Cent lyrics. But "toilet talk"? That was a new one for me. Apparently, if you bail all the water out of the toilet, you can use the pipes to talk to inmates on different floors. And, girl, you can tell who do it 'cause they got like a big rash or whatever on they face from puttin' it down in the toilet and shit. Damn.

Crandall's court date is tomorrow, January 8.

Team Robespierre Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!

By Mango Starr on 01-04-2008

I was on Team Robespierre's MySpace and saw this:

Then I saw this:

And finally ended on this:

So, I'm like I got to go to one of these:

And I'm like, what a great start to the new year.

Sony BMG Drops DRM, Making It the Last Major Music Group To Stop Being So Idiotic

By Mr P on 01-04-2008

I used to work for a record store called Cheapo. It was a fun job. After a year or so, I was one of the lucky few to get transferred to the vinyl department in the basement. The manager down there, Tony, was and is one of the coolest, funniest, friendliest persons I've ever met. At night, I had the pleasure of working by myself, pumping discordant tunes while a combination of older, mentally ‘unstable’ patrons and young idealistic DJs would peruse through our vast collection of vinyl.

Aside from the pay, the only shitty thing about the job was the owner, Al. He was an egotistical jerk and, worst of all, couldn't give a shit about his employees. After about a year-and-a-half, I had the pleasure to discuss with Al face-to-face about my thoughts on the company. He predictably undermined all my suggestions for improvements, which I guess was okay. I could only half-care about a company that hardly cared for me at all.

But then we got on the topic of DRM. Even though no major music group had taken the DRM-free plunge at the time, all signs were pointing toward a DRM-free world. Al, being the naïve businessman that he is, argued with me about the future of digital music as inextricable from DRM. His points were valid from a business standpoint, but they were far from practical. Since most people at Cheapo seemed to fear him for whatever reason, it felt really good to debate on this topic, even though it lasted less than 10 minutes.

That said, it is with exceedingly great pleasure for me to announce that Sony BMG has officially become the last major music group to drop DRM. And according to Hypebot (adding onto a story by Business Week), Sony BMG isn't half-assing this whole thing -- the group intends to make its entire catalog DRM-free. The decision was apparently made last month, and the reformatting of the MP3s could be completed within month.

Of course, a shift to DRM-free MP3s is a business move like any other. With all the negative press DRM has received, the majors are simply trying to create more flexible paradigms in which to sell MP3s in the future. Going ahead without digital restrictions will enable the groups to more fluidly penetrate social networking possibilities, Amazon, and any future businesses/networks that will surely arise. And it will also of course help them fight Apple's clear dominance in the digital music market (estimates are around 75-85%).

Besides, even though the idea of DRM was born out of P2P concerns, the restriction was always more annoying for "legal" purchasers of major label MP3s, not the "illegal" downloaders. Will these consumers have to repurchase their collections in order to get DRM-free MP3s? Will these DRM-free files be watermarked? The majors better suck up to their consumers, as they and the RIAA have been building houses on sand for quite some time now.

After my face-to-face with Al, he asked if I wanted to leave early or help him sort through vinyl. I decided to leave, of course, catching someone stealing a book on the way out the door, and then hopping in my car and listening to King Geedorah on the drive home.

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